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John 19:1-16

Lifes Two Magnitudes

A great mathematician once said that he was not concerned about spiritual matters until he vividly saw lifes “two magnitudes - the shortness of time and the vastness of eternity.” When this truth came home to him, he became a devoted disciple of Jesus Christ.

If Pilate had considered these two realities, he would not have condemned Jesus to die on the cross. He knew that the Savior was innocent of the charged against Him. He even had an uneasy feeling that Jesus was not just an ordinary man. but his desire to keep his high government post was greater than his determination to do right. Actually, he obtained little earthly benefit from his decision. The church father Eusebius, quoting from Greek historians, said that Pilate fell out of favor with his superiors and committed suicide before A.D. 40 - less than 10 years after his fateful decree. Since we have no indication that he ever repented of his sin and trusted Christ as his personal Savior, we must assume he died in a lost and hopeless condition. He had not reckoned with the “shortness of time and the vastness of eternity.”